Wednesday, March 24, 1999 Published at 10:31 GMTWorld: EuropeExpedition to rewrite Everest historyTwo British climbers may have reached the summit in 1924A team of mountaineers has set off for Mount Everest to solve a 75-year-old mystery and rewrite mountaineering history.

They will try to retrace the steps of British climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine who, some believe, were the first people to conquer Everest in 1924.

Sir Edmund Hillary: First or second to conquer Everest?

That is almost 30 years before New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tensing Norgay made their famous successful expedition.

Sir Edmund and Tensing Norgay reached the highest point on Earth on 29 May 1953. Since then, more that 750 climbers have taken the summit and 150 have died in the attempt.

Mallory and Irvine disappeared on the mountain and were believed to have been killed in a heavy blizzard.

Search for frozen camera

The team, which includes two Britons, 10 Americans, a German and 12 Nepalese Sherpa guides, hopes to prove that the pair were the first to reach the peak of Everest by finding their bodies and a Kodak camera carried by Mallory.

The mountain detectives believe that the camera may contain photos of the two on the summit. Eastman Kodak have confirmed that the frozen film could be processed as long as it has not been exposed to light.

Led by American Eric Simonson, the group is climbing up the northern, Chinese side and has several leads.

They will be looking for a body described by a Chinese climber in 1973 as that of a Westerner dressed in old-fashioned clothing. He discovered the body near the spot where Irvine's ice-axe was recovered in 1933.

Mallory and Irvine were last seen alive near the second step, the last major obstacle before the summit.

Geologist Noel Odell was 2,000ft below the men and said he believed he saw the men climb past the second step.